"For a long time now there has been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said in his promise to open government to public viewing. Most of us thought of better government websites, more accessible information, and lengthy budgets and reports, but recently the White House announced that the government will reveal everything it knows about Extraterrestial visits to Earth.

That's right: there is talk of launching a White House Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission.

John Podesta, who served as Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff and as the head of Obama's transition team, publicly stated that, with regard to government investigations of UFOs, "it's time to find out what the truth really is that's out there....because it's right" and "because it's the law." He seems pretty serious.

If, theoretically, the government kept files secret concerning unidentified flying objects, no legal grounds exist for exempting public access to those files under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). That, of course, assumes no one is officious enough to construe E.T.'s joyrides as a matter of national defense. But it's not as if someone thought to include "unless it has anything to do with aliens" somewhere among FOIA's provisions.

It can be argued that, if such files were kept secret for a reason, it would probably have to be significantly well thought through. After all, if you were involved with something so inherently fascinating, do you think you could keep it to yourself without the unshakable assistance of a damn good reason?  

If, on the other hand, there truly are no secret records to be released, how will a fascinated public ever be satisfied? This is the same public, by the way, that believes four-to-one that their government is "hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life" (as of a 1997 CNN poll).  Similarly, a Roper poll from 2002 found 56% thought UFOs to be real and 48% thought they had visited Earth.

Perhaps the only way to have a government for the people is to get a glimpse into some actual X-files. Assuming they exist, the tone around Washington is certainly that of increased transparency alongside adherence to the populace's general will.  So will Obama's administration trade in "Yes we can" for "I want to believe?"

Maybe it's not such a crazy idea. It wouldn't be the first time government took its cue from television. Remember when a presidential administration tried to set up a torture protocol inspired by 24's Jack Bauer?  

(We wish we could take credit for inventing that joke, but the counterterrorism show was actually cited more frequently than the Constitution by White House lawyers defending torture techniques.)

So perhaps the next step in life mimicking art is an airing of actual X-files. At least, if that is the case, no one is going to get hurt...except maybe the die-hard conspiracists.

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